Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

10 children of Sharon and Reed Leonard

Sharon Leonard struck her ten adopted children with a paddle or other objects, including a plastic pipe, a metal rod and a snow-removal brush. The children told investigators that Sharon had threatened to kill a couple of the boys. They also reported that six of them had been made to stay outside the Leonards’ home from time to time […]

Hannah Davenport

Hannah Davenport, age 6, died of malnutrition and dehydration after her caregivers failed to give her proper treatment for her medical condition. Hannah had a birth defect known as ectopic anus and required a special diet of soft food and frequent doctor visits, which her mother Karen Davenport (later Karen Chandler) and grandmother Linda Walsham […]

Son of David and Pamela Martin

A 17-year-old boy was imprisoned in a basement and starved by his father, David L. Martin, and his stepmother, Pamela S. Martin. The boy had lived in the basement since September 2012, when his father pulled him out of school to reportedly homeschool him. The Martins claimed to have imprisoned the boy for safety reasons […]

GW by Jeffrey "Adam" Kraft and Michele L. Buckner-Kraft

An 8-year-old girl identified as GW was starved, imprisoned, and abused by her uncle, Jeffrey “Adam” Kraft, and his wife, Michele L. Buckner-Kraft, for approximately four years. Before GW and her half-sister KN (age 5) came to live with the Krafts in 2008, GW attended kindergarten and was a normal weight for her age, though […]

Boy by Joseph Maddock

A 10-year-old boy was sexually molested by his homeschool teacher, Joseph Maddock, 34. The boy’s family had met Maddock in early 2012 while Maddock was teaching at Andrews Academy, a local private school. Maddock convinced the parents to pull the boy out of school and let him homeschool the boy. Maddock homeschooled the boy daily […]

Jared, Joshua, Emily, and Hannah Wood

Raymond Wood shot and killed his pregnant wife, Tina, and four of his six children, Jared, Joshua, Emily, and Hannah, aged 10, 8, 7, and 5. Moriah and Katlin, aged 3 and 18 months, were wounded but survived. Wood was a religious man who was described as a loving father and was devoted to his […]

Shawn Hornbeck

11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck was kidnapped on October 6, 2002, while he was out riding his bike. His abductor, Michael Devlin, kept Shawn captive at his home fifty miles away for four years, sexually assaulting the boy and creating pornography of their encounters. Neighbors were led to believe that the two were father and son. When […]

Child of Jacole Prince

On June 22, 2012, child welfare workers responding to a child abuse tip found a child locked in a small closet. At ten years old the girl, called LP in court records and news reports, weighed only 32 pounds. While her younger sister attended school and was well fed, LP was kept home and spent […]

6 Grandchildren of Gordon Winrod

In 1995 and 1996, Gordon Winrod, a antisemitic Christian Identity leader, kidnapped six of his grandchildren and held them on his extensive compound. The children did not go to school during this time, or leave the compound; instead, they were homeschooled by a relative. In 2000, police finally broke into the compound and freed the children, who […]

Child of Peter and Deedra Mitchell

Peter and Deedra Mitchell withheld food from their six year old adopted son, locked him in a basement, forced him to sleep on a rubber mat, handcuffed him, and hung him upside down in a garage, spinning him until he vomited. The boy was severely malnourished when he was discovered by a social worker responding […]